Milton Chase Writes a Letter Home

Milton B. Chase of Company E, 85th PA
Courtesy of Sherry (Chase) Reinhardt

   When the war began, the 85th had a number of reliable chroniclers whose writings became valuable primary source material in telling the story of their regiment. For example, Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Purviance was part-owner of the Washington (PA) Tribune and Reporter and wrote half a dozen lengthy letters that were published in his own newspaper.

    Likewise, Private Robert Roddy was the brother of Edward Roddy, who owned the Genius of Liberty newspaper in Uniontown. Roddy's letters appeared every few months in his brother's newspaper.

   Most soldiers of course wrote letters home to family members, some of which have survived. Other soldiers in the regiment penned letters that were published in newspapers around western Pennsylvania and even Wheeling, West Virginia. These soldiers included  Lieutenant John Acheson, Private John F. McCoy, Captain John E. Michener, Corporal George W. Dales and others.

   But by the end of 1864, the number of potential sources in the 85th PA had dwindled. Purviance was killed by friendly fire, Roddy went home with a medical discharge, and Michener was captured by the enemy, Acheson transferred to another command, and McCoy and Dales went home when their three-year enlistment ended.

  Only about 150 men were left in the regiment by the end of 1864, those who had joined in 1862 or later or those who had re-enlisted. The pool of potential sources was limited.

   One newspaper from the Civil War era that survives is the Washington Reporter and Tribune, found online in the Google News Archives. Unlike some other online newspaper sources that require a fee, this archive is free. The catch is that there is also no reliable search button. One must look through each edition page by page in the hope of finding information.

   So I went to the newspaper and began in November of 1864, scanning each weekly edition for a potential letter from the front, or perhaps something written by a returned soldier.

    Low and behold, eventually a letter from an 85th PA soldier appeared. It was on page 1 of the Reporter and Tribune from February 8, 1865. It was written by a soldier still in the regiment who called himself 'M.B.C." His identify was easy to find. Of the remaining men in the regiment, only Private Milton B. Chase of Company E had that set of initials.

   Chase was 31 years of age at the time. A native of Washington County, PA, he was married and living in Iowa when the war broke out. After serving for three months in an Iowa regiment, he decided to go home to enlist for three more years, joining Company E of the 85th PA, which had many men from Washington County, PA. He enlisted into the regiment in April of 1862, which meant he still had a few months to serve when he wrote the following letter in 1865.  Chase worked as a teacher before and after the war, which indicates why his letter seems to be fairly well written.

   Milton went home in December of 1865 from City Point, VA and was reunited with his wife, Margaret Franks Chase, whom he had married in Iowa in 1855. The growing family soon moved from one side of the Mississippi River to the other to live in  Hampton, Illinois. Unfortunately, Chase did not enjoy a long postwar life. On April 25, 1874, he ws killed in a coal mine cave-in. Chase was buried in the Old Rapid City Cemetery in Rapid City, Rock Island County, Illinois. He was survived by his wfie, Margaret, and four children. A fifth child, Margaret, was born two months after his death.

Moline [Illinois] Review-Dispatch  May 1, 1874, page 2

    His Civil War letter, written on January 25, 1865 from the camp of the 85th PA just below Richmond on the north side of the James River, first gives a review of the regiment's activities for the last nine months. These include the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, the Battle of Second Deep Bottom, the Battle of Chaffin's Farm, the Second Battle of Darbytown Road, and a description of the Battle of Trent's Reach the previous day on the James River. His letter appeared in the Reporter and Tribune on February 8, 1865.

Winter Quarters along the James River   LOC

   His letter answers a few questions that were previously unknown. The acting commander of this detachment of the 85th PA was Lieutenant James Nichlow. Lieutenant Absalom Dial of Company E was the nominal head of the detachment, but records indicate that Dial was away on a special detachment for a prisoner-of-war exchange. Chase reveals that Dial was actually on convalescent leave due to wounds received at Second Deep Bottom.

   Chase also explains that during their time as provost guards at division headquarters, the 85th PA was tasked with supervising Union prisoners, some of whom were awaiting execution for desertion. 

    Milton Chase includes a cryptic paragraph about 'Mat,' 'the young one,' turning in his gun for a drum. I could find no one with the name "Mat" or "Matthew" among the 150 who remained in the regiment in 1865. The closest was Matthew C. Axton of Brownsville, Fayette County. Like Chase, Axton was from Company E; but he is listed as having gone home two months earlier in December of 1864. 

Camp of the 85th Pa Vols.

Before Richmond, VA., January 15, 1865

Dear Reporter and Tribune:

   Knowing the interest felt by many of your readers, especially by the returned veterans of the Regiment, in the detachment of the noble old 85th still in the field, permit me through your columns to communicate to them some of the changes that have taken place since they left, as well as some other items that may prove interesting to our friends generally.

   The Detachment known as the 85th Pa. Volunteers, is now doing duty as Provost Guard at Headquarters, 1st Division, 24th Army Corps, Gen. A.H. Terry's old Division, now commanded by Gen. J. R. Rawley. The 85th is commanded by 1st Lieut. acting Col. James Nichlow, formerly Sergeant Co. H, Captain R.P. [Robert] Hughes having been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the 199th Pa. Vols. 1st Sergeant Charles E. Eckles, Co. E, has been promoted to Captain Co. K, 199th P.V. Sergeant W. C. [Walter] Cravin Co. C [to] Captain, Co. K 199th P.V. and Sergeant O. [Oliver] Sproul is Lieutenant Co. B 199th P.V. Lieutenant [Absalom]  Dial is abroad on sick leave occasioned by wounds received in action last August. Captain R.W. [Richard] Dawson, Assistant Inspector General on Gen. [Adelbert] Ames' staff, was so careless as to put himself in the way of a rebel ball at Fort Fisher, N.C. and consequently got shot in the right arm seriously.

    'Mat,' the 'young one,' desires his friends to know that he has got rid of his 'shoot stick' and has gone to playing the drum for a living. 

   The aggregate strength of the Regiment is about 150 men; there is 110 present for duty and the remaining 40 are absent on detached service  -- sick, wounded, etc.

   In order that you may know what part we have taken in the last campaign, I will give you a hasty and brief synopsis of our movements during that time.

   Our regiment was withdrawn from the Department of the South last April and formed part of the force that accompanied the then popular, but now fallen, Gen. [Benjamin] Butler in his operation at Bermuda Hundred, VA. [above] where we landed May 5th, 1864 from which time until August our headquarters were on that front, we being almost constantly under fire duing picket duty, or working on the various defenses of that line. We participated in several engagements and many lively lttle skirmishes on that line, including the Battle of Ware Bottom Church, May 20th, battle near the same place, June 17th, and also on the same line June 18th, expedition to north side of James River, which resulted in establishing works there June 29th, second advance from Deep Bottom August 14. Severe engagement near Malvern Hill August 16th in which our brigade led the charging column led by intrepid soldier General [Alfred] Terry, then in command of our division, the 1st of the 10th Corps. The old 85th led by Captain R. P. Hughes under whose gallant leaderhip we hurled back the rebel horde from their strong works [at Second Deep Bottom], taking a number of prisoners almost equal to our number, and capturing two rebel battle flags. Near this place we quietly entrenched ourselves, having advanced as far in that direction as was thought to be either prudent or healthy, and awaited the Johnnys' assault, which they made with a considerable show of determination on the afternoon of the 18th: they found us there and promptly skedaddled. Soon after this object of the expedition being accomplished, we were ordered to the Petersburg front, where we remained in the trenches a month, constantly under fire, though the nature and completeness of our works there was such that we suffered but few casualties.

   While here we were called to part with our heroic and almost idolized Col. J.B. [Joshua] Howell, in whose loss we are depirived of a much esteemed officer and long to be remembered friend, in whom the country loses a patriot, gentleman and true soldier that it could illy spare these troublous times. Our next move was the grand advance toward Richmond on the north side of the James from Deep Bottom and Aikin's Landing, September 28, which after a bloody struggle resuled in pushing back the rebel lines almost to the suburbs of the Rebel Capitol, the capture of strong works on 'Chapin's Farm,' Fort Harrison now called Fort Burnham, and many other important Rebel works establishing our present line within seven miles of Richmond. On this line the rebels advance on our immediate front a heavy Rebel force [on] October 7th [at Darbytown Road]. A severe engagement ensued in which the rebels were repulsed with heavy loss and driven within their main works. Our next move was the reconnaisance in force [on] October 12th and 13th [also at Darbytown Road], resulting in a series of brisk little dashes on the rebel lines and extending as far as the old battle ground at Fair Oaks, the scene of McClellan's nearest approach to Richmond , in which the 85th participated under him 'in his wanderings on the Peninsula.' On the 14th of October, the time of the original organization of the old 85th having expired, all except the reenlisted Veterans and those whose time was not out were 'mustered to the rear' and in due time mustered out and permitted to return to their homes 'laden with laurel,' long may they wave, while we lonely enough but not weary in well-doing were left in the field. October 15th, we were temporarily attached to the 199th Pa. Vols., a splendid 'one year organization' raised in Philadelphia and second to none in the corps, owing to the untiring energy, strict discipline and efficient instructions of the able and energetic officers in command, for which to the skill and experience of their acqusitions from the 85th they are in a great measure indebted. The 199th already attracts the admiration and excites the envy of many other organizations. About the 1st of December, our old corps, the 10th, was consolidated with the 18th and called the 24th Army Corps; the colored troops of the 10th and 18th corps were formed into a separate organization and called the 25th Corps. On the 15th of December, we were detached from the 199th and ordered to report for duty as Provost Guard at Hd. Qrs., 1st Div. 24th A.C. and here we are in pretty snug winter quarters, enjoying ourselves as well as possible. We have charge of about one hundred prisoners, mostly in for minor offenses while a few are charged with desertion. Two courts martial are disposing of their cases as rapidly as possible. Some have already been shot and others will doubtless ere long share their hard fate. The weather is somewhat cold at present, though we have seen but little snow this winter. The Johnnies made a demonstration on the left of our line this morning with their gunboats and rams and a cooperating land force. Our monitors and batteries in the vicinity of Dutch Gap are said to have demolished two or three of their boats and the excitement over an anticipated attack has subsided. For fear that this may be disapproved, like our applications for Furlough, on account of its length I will for the present desist, promising that if our scribbling is acceptable, you shall hear from us again when anything happens worthy of note.

I am very respectfully yours, for three years or during the war,

M.B.C.

85th Regt. P.V.V.

    Chase promised to write again should future events prove newsworthy. Fort Gregg and Appomattox were certainly meaningful events in April of 1865, but I could find no more letters from Chase in the April or May editions of the Reporter and Tribune. Most of the news in late April concerned Lincoln's assassasination, so if Chase sent a letter, there simply may not, from the newspaper's point of view, have been as much space or interest in such events. 

The Peripatetic Life of Lt. Colonel Norton McGiffin

       

Norton McGiffin
Property of Ronn Palm Museum of Civil War Images
Gettysburg, PA

         Shortly after the 85th Pennsylvania regiment was organized in the fall of 1861, 37-year old Norton McGiffin of Washington, PA was elected to be the first lieutenant colonel of the regiment. McGiffin would be second-in-command to Colonel Joshua B. Howell, who organized the unit. McGiffin was elected by the officers and was endorsed by the rank-and-file. He was an obvious choice, having served in the Mexican War before going on to a political career in his home county. 

         But after only seven months of service with the 85th Pennsylvania, McGiffin was forced to resign in the spring of 1862 due to illness. He was replaced as lieutenant colonel by another resident of "Little Washington," Henry A. Purviance.  

          During the months of April and May of 1862, when the regiment had just arrived in Virginia for the Peninsula Campaign, 33 men were dismissed for medical reasons. Twelve men had already died from diseases, mainly typhoid fever. 

        Regimental historian Luther S. Dickey wrote, “Lieut. Col. Norton McGiffin’s resignation was accepted, owing to impaired health. This caused universal regret among both officers and men, as he was highly esteemed by all, not only as an efficient officer, but as a most estimable, chivalrous man. The fact that he had served throughout the Mexican War and in the three months’ service before coming to the 85th Regiment had given him great military prestige, and as he was imperturbable in temperament and never gave way to excitement under the most trying circumstances. His final departure was regarded as a distinct loss to the Regiment.”

        McGiffin's time with the 85th regiment was brief; he and the 85th had peripherally participated in just one battle thus far at Williamsburg on May 5 where two of their men were wounded. Although his Civil War record was abbreviated,  McGiffin's overall life was nonetheless one of the most varied and interesting of any of the thousand men who served in the regiment from southwestern Pennsylvania

Siege of Puebla

         McGiffin was one of the few members of the 85th Pennsylvania who had previously participated in battle.  A graduate of Washington [PA] College (now Washington and Jefferson College), he was 22 when that war broke out. McGiffin was planning for a career as a lawyer as he clerked for Judge Nathan Ewing in Uniontown in the 1840's, Then the Mexican War changed the course of his life. During this conflict, he was a private in Company K of the First Pennsylvania Infantry, known as the "Duquesne Grays." McGiffin participated in engagements at Puebla, Vera Cruz and Mexico City, where he stormed the fortress castle of Chapultapec. He was wounded during street fighting at the Siege  of Puebla (1847).  

    Manaen Sharp of the 85th Pennsylvania wrote this brief account of McGiffin's service in the Mexican War around 1900. 

      "[During the Mexican War] McGiffin saw as hard service as any in the greater war of the Rebellion. At the taking of Puebla, after fighting for six weeks, his company was ordered to drive out some cavalry occupying a cross street. He had just been relieved from a 24-hour's picket service, which excused him for the day, but he volunteered to go with the company of 58 muskets. They succeeded in driving the enemy nearly a mile when they ran into as hot a place as could be imagined. They were overpowered and driven back with a loss of 14 killed and 28 wounded, making 2/3 of the company disabled in a few minutes. Comrade McGiffin was hit on the back of the head by something thrown from the top of a building. He recovered from the shock barely in time to dodge something like a crowbar that barely missed him, and striking a heavy door, buried itself 3 inches and stuck fast there."  [Sharp, Amity in the Great American Conflict, 1903]

        McGiffin went home to Little Washington shortly before the end of the war due to his injury. At a banquet at the end of the war held in nearby Canonsburg, McGiffin was presented with a silver-mounted pistol. 

Court House, Sheriff's Residence and Jail
Boyd Crumine's History of Washington County

        A decade after coming home from Mexico, McGiffin was elected to be treasurer (1849) of Washington County before being voted to be county sheriff in 1858. He was in that office when the Civil War began in 1861. McGiffin immediately resigned to join the 12th Pennsylvania for three months. Following the expiration of that term of service, he joined the 85th Pennsylvania.

        After the Civil War, McGiffin moved with his family across the state border and lived for four years as a farmer in Ohio County, West Virginia. He moved back to Washington County in 1870.

          Upon his return, McGiffin attended the organizational meeting in Uniontown, Fayette County in 1873 for the postwar regimental association. This group of former members of the 85th regiment would conduct reunions for the next 45 years. McGiffin was elected to be the first president of the association.

         McGiffin went on to hold a wide variety of political positions, both elected and appointed. He was voted into the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 1880 and served one year.

  

        After his term in the state house, McGiffin lived for four years in Ida Grove, Iowa as a farmer. He then lived for the next four years in Fair Haven, New York near Lake Ontario.

James G. Blaine
LOC

         For the next stage of his life, McGiffin was appointed U.S. Consul at Port Rowan, Ontario, Canada by United States Secretary of State James G. Blaine, a classmate at Washington and Jefferson. This was shortly followed by an appointment to the same position at Port Hope, Canada for two years. In the 1890's, he found his way back home to Little Washington.

        McGiffin died on July 30, 1905 in his home town. He is buried in the city's Washington Cemetery. He was the last survivor of the Mexican War from Washington County. 

           McGiffin had many interesting events and triumphs in his personal life. Several of his children, however, did not fare as well. In 1872, his 17-year old son, Thomas, shot a school principal, Welty J. Wilson, at the Union school in Washington, PA. The story has several versions. All stated that Wilson intercepted a note that young McGiffin had written to a female student. Thomas shot him in the hip when Wilson would not return the note.

          A local version of the incident in a Little Washington newspaper was sympathetic to Thomas. "Young M'Giffin," it said, "has borne the reputation of a quiet and peaceable boy of warm-hearted and generous impulses, and is one of the last who would have been suspected of being involved in a matter of this kind." [Washington Reporter, February 7. 1872, page 1]

         Another Washington County newspaper noted, "there are several sides to the story --one of which accuses the Teacher with reading the note before the whole school and also...making fun of McGiffin's 'love sickness;' also of giving the note to some students  to take to the College and there make it public. If this be so, much of the sympathy will learn toward the boy, as no young man of spirit could quietly brook such a needless insult. Shooting however is not the remedy and must be severely frowned upon. Shooting is getting too terribly common--nearly one half the boys of town and country carry loaded revolvers." [Monongahela Republican, February 8, 1872, page 3]

         On the other hand, the newspaper from Warren, Ohio, the hometown of the teacher, came down hard on the teen. "universal sympathy is extended to Mr. Wilson, as well as to the afflicted parents of the hot-headed young man...we cannot refrain from adding that Mr. Wilson was undoubtedly right in refusing to permit the delivery of the note...the murderous attempt on his life was without just cause or provocation...Young McGiffin should be retired to a state prison or a lunatic asylum for several years until his blood has cooled off and his head become level." [Western Reserve Chronicle, Warren, Ohio, February 14, 1872, page 3]

        Wilson survived and lived until 1925. Thomas eventually moved to Hawaii where he spent the last four decades of his life. He died in 1922 at the age of 68, survived by his wife, Malina, and several children.

         Norton McGiffin's second son, Philo Norton McGiffin, became the most famous member of the family. Philo was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. While at Annapolis, he earned the reputation of an unrepentant prankster. But he also demonstrated personal bravery that would mark his life by rescuing two children from a burning home. Furthermore, during a training session, when it seemed his ship's mast might collapse, he dashed up the rigging to secure the spar and prevent disaster. 

            Unable to gain a commission in the U.S. Navy because of it's small size at the time, Philo became a noted officer in the Chinese navy as an instructor and advisor. Philo McGiffin was the first American to command a modern battleship in wartime at the Battle of the Yalu during the First Sino-Japanese War in the 1890’s. 

Philo McGiffin
Nimitz Library U.S. Naval Academy

         Philo suffered numerous wounds during the battle as he personally put out fires, directed artillery and directed movements of his ship, all while receiving fire from four Japanese gunboats. He was in severe pain for the rest of his life. Returning to the United States, he wrote a review of the battle and delivered a few lectures, but finally succumbed to his painful wounds. He shot himself in 1897 and died at the age of 36.

           A few years earlier before the Battle of the Yalu, Philo wrote, "I don't want to be wounded and hate to think of being dreadfully mangled and then being patched up with half my limbs and senses gone, yet a triumph of surgical skill. No I prefer to step down or up or out of this world when my time comes." [The Fall River [MA] Daily Herald, October 2, 1894, page 5]

         Seven years later in 1905, Norton McGiffin was honored on his 80th birthday in Little Washington by the city's G.A.R Post. He was presented with "a fine Morris chair." A letter signed by the members of the post included the following tribute:

       "We congratulate you, sir, that at your very birth, you entered at once upon the inheritance of an honored name, for from that early time when your brave grandfather [Nathaniel] marched in the Pennsylvania line and suffered with [George] Washington at Valley Forge, through him and after him your honored father [Thomas], in his turn filling for many years a large and varied place in business and professional life, the name you bear has occupied a bright and prominent place upon the pages of our country's history." [Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, January 24, 1904, page 13]

John E. Michener and the Attempt to Capture Battery Gregg

 

Morris Island, Battery Wagner and Batter Gregg
Robert Knox Sneden    LOC

          In August of 1863, Lieutenant John E. Michener and his regiment, the 85th Pennsylvania, were stationed on Morris Island near Charleston, South Carolina. They were part of a Union effort to recapture Fort Sumter and subdue Charleston, the city considered the heart of the rebellion. The 85th Pennsylvania spent the month assigned to the arduous task of digging a series of parallels or trenches that the Union hoped would eventually lead to the capture of Battery Wagner, the key Confederate sand-walled fort. A bit farther towards the tip of the island at Cummings Point lay Battery Gregg. 

Lt. John E. Michener
New York Public Library

          The 85th Pennsylvania had arrived in South Carolina in late January of 1863 from New Bern, North Carolina. They first spend a few weeks at St. Helena Island. In early April, the invaded Folly Island and found it had been abandoned. The were stationed on Folly Island for several months until they crossed Light House Inlet to Morris Island, where they would spend about three months.

          In July  the 85th Pennsylvania did not participate in either of two assaults upon Battery Wagner, the key Confederate sand-walled fort that helped guard Charleston Harbor and Fort Sumter. During these two assaults, hundreds of Union soldiers fell trying to capture the structure. [Last month's blog entry was about Michener's command of the barge that ferried the famous African-American 54th Massachusetts from Folly Island to Morris Island for the second assault on Battery Wagner]. However, during the ensuing month-long work digging five parallels, the 85th Pennsylvania lost more men that any other federal regiment. Among the wounded was their leader, Colonel Joshua B. Howell who nearly died when the bombproof that he occupied had a direct hit from a Confederate shell on August 18. While Howell recovered from a severe concussion, the regiment was led by Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Purviance. He was instantly killed by a friendly-fire incident a few days later on August 30 when a Union shell prematurely exploded directly over his head while he led his troops in a trench.

Storming Battery Wagner's Rifle Pits
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper       9-26-1863

       On August 26, with the parallels nearing completion, three hundred men from the 24th Massachusetts captured the Confederate rifle pits in front of Battery Wagner. With the distance to Battery Wagner vastly closer, for a third time, a third infantry  action to storm the walls of the structure was scheduled. Ahead of this third assault, a stealthy movement This was intended to be a stealthy up Vincent's Creek was planned to capture Battery Gregg and surround Wagner. About 150 men from four or five regiments were chosen for this assignment, including the 85th Pennsylvania, 100th New York, 3rd New Hampshire, and the 104th Pennsylvania. The mission, under the command of Major Oliver Sanford of the 7th Connecticut.

[AUTHOR NOTE: Sources differ about the number as well as which regiments participated in the assault. All agree that the 85th Pennsylvania and the 100th New York were involved. But the other regiments are varied.  Even though the commander of the assault, Oliver S. Sanford, was a member of the 7th Connecticut, the author could find no evidence that his regiment participated. Interestingly, in his 1905 "History of the Seventh Connecticut Volunteer Infantry," soldier and historian Stephen Walkley did not mention the Battery Gregg mission at all, including Sanford's role as leader.]

          

Path along Vincent's Creek to Battery Gregg
Map by Robert Know Sneden    LOC

       The mission against Battery Gregg was hampered by two unforeseen events. First, cloud cover evaporated and a bright moon revealed the Union boats on their way to Gregg. Second, when a Confederate boat with about 12 men aboard was spotting leaving the battery, Lieutenant Francis J. Higginson, in charge of the naval personnel and in control of the assault boats,  ordered his men to open fire. The boat was captured but the presence of Union  assaulters was revealed, and the mission was called off.

         The Union tried again the next night, but Battery Gregg, now on full alert,  immediately began shelling the Union boats before they reached the shore. Again, the mission was cancelled.

          Plans for a Union land assault upon Batteries Wagner and Gregg went forward anyway. But when the federals approached Battery Wagner on the morning of September 7, they found it had been abandoned. Battery Gregg was left unmanned as well. Confederate troops inside had escaped in the early morning hours. 

    Below is an excerpt from "Prison Life" by author T.J. Simpson, a short 1867 work about John E. Michener's war experiences, followed by a second version of the event from Lieutenant George Stowits of the 100th New York.

Carrying boats up Morris Island for the Assault
Harpers Weekly 10-3-1863

    "Two nights before the evacuation of Forts Wagner and Gregg," wrote Simpson, "a boat expedition had been planned by General [Alfred] Terry to proceed up Light-House creek to Charleston harbor, surprise Fort Gregg, capture and blow up the magazine and retire. Major [Oliver S.]  Sanford of the Sixth Connecticut was ordered to the command of the expedition. Details were made for the Eighty-fifth and One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers and two other regiments, in all about two hundred men. Lieutenant Michener had charge of two boats of twenty men. Captain [Rolla] Phillips and [William] Kerr of the same [85th PA] regiment had charge also of three or four boats of the command. These small boats were manned by sailors and proceeded slowly and cautiously up the stream until they arrived in Charleston harbor, and between Forts Sumter and Gregg, the point to be assailed. As the boats arrived opposite Payne’s dock, they successfully formed on the right by filing into line and moved steadily forward for the intended assault. At the moment the boats struck the beach, the men were to rush for the fort without waiting to form in line of battle. A knowledge of their position by the enemy would have proved perilous in the extreme, for they were then directly in the center and in close range of a chain of regel forts and batteries that could have destroyed them in a moment. The moon, unfortunately for the expedition, began to rise at that moment and when they had arrived within less than a hundred yards of Fort Gregg, were discovered and repulsed.                    

          "The enemy at once sent up a signal and soon Forts Johnston and Moultrie and battery Beauregard had united in raising one continued shower of shot and shell upon them. Major Sanford, seeing the utter hopelessness of then making an attack, ordered the boats to rapidly withdraw. This order was, at first, but imperfectly understand on account of the great excitement; and hence, while some of the boats were beating a hasty retreat, others were pulling for the beach. The mistake, however, was soon rectified and all rushed to get beyond the range of the batteries, to add to the confusion, oars would get foul, boats run into each other, and some even got aground. In the midst of this dreadful dilemma a cannon ball went crashing through the side of Lieutenant Michener’s boat, and it was with the greatest difficulty kept from sinking. Astonishing as it may appear, but few lives were lost in this bold and daring adventure, and the boats returned in safety."

Approaching Battery Gregg
Harper's Weekly  10-3-1863

          Interestingly, Michener, through author Simpson, does not blame naval personnel for exposing the Union boats by firing upon the departing Confederate craft; but Michener did  state that moonlight gave away their location. Also, "Prison Life" makes no mention of the second assault upon Battery Gregg that was called off before any of the Union boats reached the shoreline.

        Perhaps the best  account of the mission against Battery Gregg came from Lieutenant Stowits of the 100th New York. Stowits was a member of the assault team, but was unimpressed by the planning and leadership prior to the assault. Many lives would have been lost in what he felt was a poorly-planned assault. 

Lt. George Stowits, 100th New York
History of the 100th Regiment   p,187

        "Five hundred men were detailed from four of the most reliable regiments, and the command of the expedition was entrusted to Maj. Sandford of the Seventh Connecticut...We remember the visit of the Chaplain to the tent of the writer to ascertain if we could swim. When assured we could, he responded that it was favorable. We knew not then of our detail for the expedition. Boats had been collected in one of the creeks, and the men assembled near the camp of the boat infantry, and awaited darkness, before embarking...Scanning the manner of Maj. Sandford [sic], and his apparent, to us, unfitness for so a responsible a work, we could not but feel that many brave men, if landed, would be destroyed.

      "Files for spiking the guns were put into the hands of men selected for that purpose. On inquiry as to what should be used for driving the files, the answer was given that anything that lay around the gun. To us, that was too uncertain. We obtained permission to leave the guns of the men selected, and ordered them to use the flat side of the bayonet, that no time should be lost in searching in the sand or battery for what might not be at hand. The orders were to head the boats for the beach, land, form, and rush for the fort, spike the guns, blow up the magazine and retire...We endeavored to impress our men with the danger, as well as the importance of the enterprise, that each man should act for himself and as though he was to do the work alone and unaided. In consequence of the limited number of boats a large number were left behind. The boats were filled with a quiet, thoughtful band. We glided along with the music of shell overhead, exploding and striking the water about. As we neared the bay a boat shot out from Gregg. She was hailed. No attention paid. We fired and brought her to. We captured a surgeon, major and ten men. The garrison was aroused, and we were ordered back. The next night a second attempt was made, with no better success. The enemy opened on the boat and drove them of. The loss was slight. Thus ended an ill-conceived and fruitless. enterprise."

Union camp on Morris Island    LOC

Captain Lewis Watkins

 

Property of Ronn Palm Museum of Civil War Images
Gettysburg, PA

          The transcribed letter at the end of this post was written by Captain Lewis Watkins of Company E of the 85^th Pennsylvania. At the time it was written, in the summer of 1864, his regiment was stationed on the Bermuda Hundred front near Ware Bottom Church, Virginia. Watkins and his fellow western Pennsylvanians were encamped near the southern bank of the James River below Richmond and had recently provided cover during the construction of an important pontoon bridge across the river at Jones Neck. 

James River Pontoon Bridge LOC

        This bridge would enable the Army of the James to threaten Richmond several times in the next few months. [Watkins' regiment later crossed that bridge on their way to Second Deep Bottom]. Their last few days had involved low-level skirmishing along the front against the Confederate “Howlett Line” of defenses.

        Ironically, Watkins' letter appeared in the newspaper on August 17, 1864; this was the day after Watkins was severely wounded at the Battle of Second Deep Bottom near Richmond. His fate is described later in this article.

         Lewis Watkins, age 37, originally joined the regiment as a first lieutenant in Company E, led by Captain Henry A. Purviance (who was later promoted to lieutenant colonel). In a sad irony that mentioned Watkins' speculations about his future while he was laying in a hospital bed fighting for his life. Watkins was sent to Chesapeake Hospital at Fort Monroe. He died there of blood poisoning six weeks later. He was survived by his widow, Mary. They had been married for just six months and had no children.

Congressman James Kennedy Moorhead   LOC

        Watkins wrote the letter to Congressman James Kennedy Moorhead (1806-1884).  Moorhead was a Republican member of House of Representative (1859-1869) from Pittsburgh’s 22^nd Congressional district. He had earlier served as state adjutant general in 1838  After the war, he would later serve as president of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce for the last seven years of his life.  Prior to his career in politics, Moorhead had been involved in the Monongahela Navigation Company that built lock and dams for the navigation of the Monongahela River between Pittsburgh and Morgantown, VA (later West Virginia). Watkins mentions in his letter that his late father, Richard, lived near Lock #5 near Brownsville, Fayette County.

          In his letter, Watkins mentions the high number of Confederate deserters making their way to Union lines from nearby Confederate entrenchments. This was due to several causes:  forced marches to defend different points menaced by Union cavalry, diseases, the inability to remove sick men from the front, and lack of food.

              Watkins also spoke of his appreciation in Moorhead voting to eliminate the substitute clause of the conscription laws. This clause allowed a draftee to avoid service by making a $300 payment to the government or to higher another to take his place in the military. By mid-1864, northerners were growing weary of the war, particularly after Grant’s Overland Campaign to capture Richmond had stalled with heavy losses. The antiwar feelings were blunted by union victories at Cedar Creek, Mobile and Atlanta.

       At the time of his letter, Lee’s army was somewhat trapped behind fortifications along the Richmond-Petersburg front. Grant had just moved his command to City Point, VA and Lee now had to protect not only Richmond but also his vital supply line at Petersburg. Watkins was correct that victory would eventually be achieved “If we could get them out of their fortifications.”

           Watkins may also have been writing to Moorhead in the hopes of networking for future employment opportunities. Had he lived, Watkins would have returned home in November of 1864 so he was within a few month of the end of his three-year enlistment. In the last sentence of his letter, however, Watkins hints that he might reenlist and stay in the service until the end of the war, after seeing to the needs of his mother in Pennsylvania.

         Watkins was survived by his wife, Mary Elizabeth Chrissinger Watkins, whom had married earlier in the year at McKeesport, PA. Watkins had gone home on March 3 from Hilton Head, South Carolina to accompany 110 members of the regiment who had reenlisted and had therefore earned a month's furlough to travel back to western Pennsylvania. Accompanying Watkins aboard the steamship Arago (right)  for this duty were Captain Ross Sanner of Company F as well as Lieutenants Jacob Davis of Company E and Levi Rogers of Company F.

         Upon his death, Watkins'  body was sent home and he was buried on his family's property in West Brownsville, Washington County. Mary apparently never remarried and died in Iowa in 1909. 

 

                       The Pittsburgh Daily Commercial             August 17, 1864                  Page 4

                             A Cheering Voice from a Gallant Officer

                                                                                                                     Camp of the 85^th Penn’a Vols.

                                                                                                                      Near Bermuda Hundred, Va.,                                                                                                                       July 5, 1864

Hon. J. K. Moorhead, Pittsburgh, Pa.:

    DEAR SIR: -- I intended to have written to you before the closing of Congress, at which time you were at Washington City zealously engaged in counteracting Copperhead influence so as to repeal the three hundred dollar clause of the Conscription law. However, I was prevented on account of the continuous fighting which was going on in our front. If it had not been that I observed, in the reading of the proceedings of Congress, that you were among the number who voted right, I should have made a great effort to drop you a line. I assure you that the army was considerably interested, and all who favored the repeal have won the admiration of all the soldiers and every patriot.

       No doubt but I had better introduce myself before proceeding, for fear that you have forgotten me, or it may be that you never knew me. Suffice for me to say, I remember you. However, I am satisfied that you will recollect or have some knowledge of me when I refer you to my father, Richard Watkins, who, before his death, lived at Lock No. 5. I have been in the army nearly three years, under the command of Colonel J.B. Howell, with whom no doubt but you are well acquainted, during which time

Confederate Deserters   Harper's Weekly  7-16-1864

I never was more confident of success as now. When the Army of the Potomac was on the Peninsula, two years ago, scarcely a deserter came into our lines. And if any did come they were always foreigners or were Northern men. Since we have been here this time there are many, almost every one of whom are natives of Virginia. I have talked with several within the last few days. They all say that much dissatisfaction prevails in their army, and a lack of confidence of success. A great many complain of the bad faith of their government, in first getting them into the army, and at the expiation of their term of service conscripting them for an indefinite length of time or so long as the war lasts. I am afraid that the people of the North will become impatient and be disposed to have peace on any terms, when the Confederacy is fast falling to pieces, and a short time will consummate the work of destruction. Although the rebels fight well, yet I think that they were not as determined as when we fought them at Fair Oaks [Seven Pines]. If we could only get them out of their fortifications, the fate of the rebellion would soon be decided.

            The last of the Southern men are in the field, and as this war will terminate only then the resources of the South are exhausted. I think that the beginning of the end is at hand.

         The weather is quite hot, yet much healthier than when we were on the Peninsula before. The health of the troops is good considering the season. The attack on Petersburg did not result as favorable as we could have expected, yet we are not discouraged nor was it barren of any advantage. Grant sill sticks close to the enemy, and would succeed if the rebs were kept out of the State. The accounts given by correspondents of the press must be taken with considerable allowance. I believe that our cause has been injured by false statements.

       My term of service will soon be out, having served for nearly three years. I expect to return home and procure a satisfactory home for an aged mother, after which I will return if this war is not terminated.

                   I remain your friend.

                                                                                          LEWIS WATKINS

                                                                                          Captain 65^th [sic] Pa. Vols.

Charles Cox and Lt. Robert G. Taylor

 

Charles Cox
from  Percy Hart's History and Directory of the Three Towns, 1904, p.167

        

        An interesting relationship that developed in the 85th Pennsylvania during the war was between Lieutenant Robert Gillis Taylor of Company E and Charles Cox of Virginia. It was a relationship that seemingly lasted nearly 40 years and ended with a strong sense of irony as the two men passed away on the same day in 1899.
        To be frank, this article includes much speculation about Cox because records of his life are extremely sparse. The writer hopes the reader will indulge his speculations and assumptions.
         Two questions about the Taylor-Cox connection remain unanswered. What was their relationship after the Civil War, and how did Charles Cox become a prosperous member of the Brownsville, Pennsylvania community?
         Let us begin with Taylor's war service. Lieutenant Taylor enlisted at the age of 27 into Company E at Washington, PA. He was likely recruited by Captain Henry A. Purviance, the co-publisher of a Washington, PA newspaper. [See last week's post for a profile of Purviance].  Taylor served as a first lieutenant along with Thompson Purviance, a young cousin of Henry Purviance who was killed at Seven Pines.
        Taylor spent 13 months in the 85th Pennsylvania. He is listed as having been wounded at Seven Pines on May 31, 1862. He was medically dismissed for "partial paralysis" almost six months later on November 22, 1862.
        When Taylor returned to Washington County, he was accompanied by an African-American from Virginia named Charles Cox. One source noted that Cox was from the area of Norfolk, Virginia. If so, they two probably met either when the regiment landed at Hampton Roads for the Peninsula Campaign in April of 1862 or while the regiment was stationed at nearby Suffolk, VA between September and December of 1862. Cox may have been a free man, but more likely a displaced slave who became employed by Taylor as a valet or cook during Taylor's time in the army. Cox may soon have tended to Taylor's physical needs in camp as a result of the paralysis.
      At the time of the meeting between Cox and Taylor, the issue of emancipation of slaves was highly controversial. President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. It was to take effect on January 1, 1863 for slaves in the states of the Confederacy. Many Americans, including Union soldiers, spent the fall of 1862 debating the issue. While abolitionists were pleased, many other northerners were concerned that the primary goal of the war, which so far had been saving the Union, would be superseded by freedom for slaves.
       Cox was around 50 or so years old when the two returned to western Pennsylvania together. Perhaps Taylor, who seems to have come from a well-to-do family (a brother became a college professor) felt he still needed help in his recovery. He may also have valued Cox's companionship and perhaps even friendship while camped at Suffolk.
        By 1880, Taylor was living in the western part of Washington County near the Monongahela River.  Cox had crossed the Monongahela River to live in Luzerne Township, a part of Brownsville, Fayette County. Cox probably did not work for Taylor at this time, but the two appear to have remained on friendly terms. By this time, Cox was married to Catherine (Peyton) and had two sons, Henry and William.
        Catherine was younger than Charles, by about 25 years, according to their shared headstone. The 1880 census lists her as having been born in Virginia, leading to the possibility that she traveled north with Taylor and Cox in 1862. Both sons are recorded as having been born Pennsylvania. Catherine would have been around 20 years of age when Taylor and Cox left the regiment.
     Charles Cox is listed in the 1880 census as being employed as a laborer. Accounts of his age vary wildly. This census lists his age as 65, meaning his birth would have been round 1815. His headstone, however, lists his birth year as 1799, meaning he would have been over 80 years of age in 1880. In Percy Hart's history of Brownsville, Cox is noted as having been 107 years old at his death in 1899, making his birth year around 1792.
     Also perhaps noteworthy in the 1880 census is that Cox and his family lived among white neighbors at this time.
     In his 1904 history of the Brownsville area, local resident and author Percy Hart lists Cox among the three most prominent African American residents of the town. Hart includes a photo of Cox (top of page), who had died a few years earlier, but offers no other biographical information.
     In 1891, the Connellsville Weekly Courier carried this brief paragraph about Cox.

      Although the article highlights the fact that Cox was given a place of honor at the regimental reunion, the language used is cringe-worthy by modern standards. The article used the term "captured" to describe Cox's attachment to the regiment, which does not appear to be a matter of coercion, and does not mention Taylor's role in his migration to the North.
       Furthermore, City Point, VA was developed into a Union base in 1864, 19 months after Cox left Virginia for Pennsylvania.
     In reality, Cox probably was considered an honorary part of the regiment; his presence at the reunion may have reminded the veterans that the freedom of people like Cox was one of the positive outcomes of the war.
      The article also states Cox was captured by "the Brownsville company." This is incorrect. Company C was the company of the 85th Pennsylvania with men mostly from Brownsville and the immediate area. Taylor was a member of Company E, which were men from Washington and Greene Counties. Taylor did hail from East Bethlehem and Centreville, PA in Washington County, just a few miles from Brownsville. The fact that Cox settled near Brownsville may have led to the assumption in the article that he was first associated with the "Brownsville company."
    Taylor went on to a prominent career in local business and politics. After recovering from the paralysis, he worked as a clerk for a railroad company in Pittsburgh.  In 1886, he was appointed the commissioner of the Cumberland Road (today's Route 40 in Pennsylvania) by Governor Robert E. Pattison, replacing fellow 85th Pennsylvania veteran Moses McKeag, who had passed away. A year later, Taylor was elected as a commissioner for Washington County. (Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania, Volume 1, 1893)

Hart's Directory, p.255

This death registry lists Taylor and Cox as having died on the same day.

Obituary for Robert G.  Taylor
Pittsburgh Daily Post, 11-21-1899, p.1

This article about the Taylor-Cox relationship seems to contain fairly accurate information about Cox, who very likely was a servant for Taylor during the war.
   

Obituary for Charles Cox
Pittsburgh Press, 11-21-1899, p.8

     This article notes Cox's nickname as "Captain Charlie." It is unknown where Cox picked up this moniker. If he were born near Norfolk, he may have worked at the port there. Or he may have worked on the river at Brownsville, where passenger and cargo ships were docked and maintained during the 1800's. The article notes that Cox was financially successful but does not state the kind of work in which he had engaged. 

     Cox was buried in Brownsville and has a rather prominent headstone for himself and his family, perhaps denoting that he did indeed find financial success after he crossed the Mason-Dixon Line into Pennsylvania. 

New Bethlehem (PA) Vindicator
11-24-1899, p.6

     Finally, this article from a newspaper in northeast Pennsylvania focuses on the unusual matter of the two men passing away on the same day: November 20, 1899. It also implies that they maintained some sore of relationship after returning from the war.
    Robert G. Taylor is buried in the Taylor Cemetery in Centreville, Washington County, PA.